FMCSF History Moment: Weathering the Storms, 1988-1999

In this, First Mennonite’s 50th Anniversary Year, we’re presenting a dozen short “History Moments.” The first, from 1975 to 1980 described how we began as a house church in Haight Ashbury. In the second, from 1980-1988, we heard how our congregation matured with leadership from within. This is the third in the series by Karen Kreider Yoder.

During this period, we enjoyed growth and expansion. At the same time, we faced a series of storms– a major earthquake, our church burned and our struggle with leadership.

In 1988, for the first time in the 13 years of our church, we called our first pastors from outside our members– Joyce and Don Wyse. Don, a doctor, supplemented the meager salary that our congregation offered. They bought a home in Bernal Heights and frequently hosted church meetings and meals. Many members recall their warm hospitality.

Our numbers grew from 1988-1994. The 1992 directory lists a dozen families with young children. In June 1995, we held our first, if only, week of Vacation Bible School for our children. There was much coming and going, and for many families, when their children reached school age, they left the Bay Area.

The young people who populated committees–Steering, Worship, Fellowship, MVS Support, Pastoral Support– continued to serve on one committee, then the next, actively making our church function. We added several outward-focused committees– AIDS, Central America Support and Bay Area Mennonite Outreach.

Our Worship Committee developed an advent resource for the wider denomination. We started sharing our faith stories. We made decisions by consensus. We started SIN Neighborhood Groups–Soup and Issues for Nurture. After summoning the Wyses to testify about our welcoming position, our conference strongly affirmed ordaining Don and Joyce as our pastors in 1992.

We had front row seats as the brand new Hymnal: A Worship Book was published in 1992 with member, Rebecca Slough, as managing editor. She helped expand our singing of hymns with Anabaptist roots, inclusive language and Taize songs.

From at least 1990 to 1996, we held a Sunday afternoon Christmas Hymn Sing, with Vance George, Director of the SF Symphony Chorus leading us. He often stopped a piece abruptly, gave a few suggestions to the basses or altos, and then proceeded, a completely transformed song.

In one year-end “Evaluation of the Congregation,” Joyce summarized their year at First Mennonite. She wrote about our firm financial footing, innovative worship services and our safe place to ask questions. In summary, she described First Mennonite as “a ship on the high seas, with a heavy keel enabling the ship to weather many a storm… stable but on the move… a ship with clearly-held-forth sails, which announce our firm belief in God’s goodness to us….”

Storms hit many times during these years.

At 5 o’clock on October 17, 1989, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck. When the ground stopped shaking, a top section of the Bay Bridge had collapsed, an Oakland freeway crumbled, and homes in the Marina cracked. We were all shaking.

In August 1993, some unhoused people built a campfire outside the Dolores Street Baptist Church where we worshipped, which caught the whole building on fire. Our congregation lost our church home. We gathered in the median for a service of grief. And we moved to the cavernous Golden Gate Lutheran Church across from Dolores Park.

The Wyses left us in 1994, and we conducted another national search, this time calling John Miller of Calgary, Alberta, as pastor. He developed a vision for our community, including co-housing, an MCC thrift store, Ten Thousand Villages shop, cafe and outreach into the community. It was an ambitious vision, and disagreement developed among some members about leadership and pastoral care.

From April 1995 to April 1998, we struggled to include John and his Vision in our own strong internal leadership. When it came time to decide whether to renew his contract, we couldn’t reach a consensus. After hours of regional meetings and congregational meetings, we were torn. Renew or not renew his contract? Just a week before Easter 1998, we chose not to renew his contract.

For some, that decision represented the end of the storm, for others who were caught by surprise, the decision represented the beginning of years of misgivings about our congregation. This period may have been our congregation’s most massive storm.

We pulled ourselves together, formed a leadership team of four– each of whom provided pastoral care to our congregation for the following year.

We were determined to stay afloat. We were, after all, a ship on the high seas, with a heavy keel, weathering the storm, announcing our firm belief in God’s goodness.